Odd RF Drop Out issues

[BobHealey]

I'm working on an outdoor production of Throughly Modern Millie. 12 Shure QLX-D, 2 Audio-technica 3000, 6 Audio-technica 2000 series wireless channels. All channels are on OEM antenna distribution systems with OEM 1/2 wave antennas. I've got a piece of drywall, a piece of 1/2" ply, followed by the set between the receivers and the performers.

With one particular actress, who plays Millie, in the second act last night I started getting frequent loss of RF signal (in a 10 minute period, Wireless workbench recorded 50 loss of signal events with her on stage).

I swapped her ULX for a different ULX, and my problems went away on her, and didn't follow her pack to the guy in the ensemble I swapped with. She was on 523.775 and went to 473.500. Pack was clipped on her back to her bra.

Any thoughts on why this is happening? I've had issues with this actress before at a different venue with SLX in the G4 range, but I had chalked it up to the corset when I couldn't reproduce the problem with myself wearing her rig.

 

[LPdan]

Could there be differences in how the pack antenna is being oriented? Perhaps this actress curls the antenna up, or the way she usually attaches it happens to bend the antenna in a non-ideal way.
Also, is the pack on the inside or outside of her bra strap? I’ve found the inner back becomes a sweat gutter and can cause problems with body packs. You might try adding something to stiffen the antenna and mount her pack off her body a bit more.

 

[Brenden Friedel]

I'm working on an outdoor production of Throughly Modern Millie. 12 Shure QLX-D, 2 Audio-technica 3000, 6 Audio-technica 2000 series wireless channels. All channels are on OEM antenna distribution systems with OEM 1/2 wave antennas. I've got a piece of drywall, a piece of 1/2" ply, followed by the set between the receivers and the performers.

With one particular actress, who plays Millie, in the second act last night I started getting frequent loss of RF signal (in a 10 minute period, Wireless workbench recorded 50 loss of signal events with her on stage).

I swapped her ULX for a different ULX, and my problems went away on her, and didn't follow her pack to the guy in the ensemble I swapped with. She was on 523.775 and went to 473.500. Pack was clipped on her back to her bra.

Any thoughts on why this is happening? I've had issues with this actress before at a different venue with SLX in the G4 range, but I had chalked it up to the corset when I couldn't reproduce the problem with myself wearing her rig.

It sounds to me that you just ended up getting a bad freq. TV stations are starting to switch into that area. Try doing a scan on WWB with the one of the QLX of the area. That will shure eliminate the problem

 

[Amiers]

Going with sweat.

Left field idea. The antenna was touching her bra underwire making her a giant antenna and making the pack freak out.

 

[Aaron Becker]

I've got a piece of drywall, a piece of 1/2" ply, followed by the set between the receivers and the performers.

So, you don't have direct line of sight between the RX and TX? I'd fix that pronto. Get some paddle antennas too.

 

[BobHealey]

Replying to all of these now that I've got the time to do so:

Sweat/pack placement: When I switched her from a QLX-D at 523 to one at 473, nothing else changed including pack placement and proximity to skin. The mic packs are all in neoprene pouches, and hers was dry when I removed it for the swap
TV frequencies: Her pack had no issues with RF drop outs when transfered to the pants pocket of the actor who had the 473 MHz QLX.
Line of Sight: Given outdoor venue with minimal to no sheltered places for electronics, it is as close to line of site as possible while still being sheltered from the weather. The stage is a wooden pavilion with a back room. Recievers are in that back room. And the other 20 wireless (9 QLX G50, 2 QLX H50, 1 ew100G3 G band, 2 AT 3000 C band, 6 AT 2000 (1 I band, 5 D band)) have no issues.

Further investigation has revealed over past few years that I've had problems with her indoors and out, different venues and zip codes, that I only have reliable reception on her in the QLXD or ULXD H50 band, the Audio Technica D band (600 MHz), or the Sennheiser G band. I seem to have ok luck in the lower part of the Shure G4/G50 band (below 480)

 

[Amiers]

Maybe she had high iron in here blood lol.

Metal plate, pins, and insulin pump might play a part.

 

[eadler]

523.775 is the very top edge of 22, 473.5 is in the middle of 14, above land mobile bands.
I'm not sure where exactly this performance is but there is a 21, a 22, and a construction permit for 23 in your listed region which may be causing issues. If you can't get it all sussed out yourself, I'd recommend giving a shout out to the SBE Frequency Coordinator in your area and asking if they can offer a suggestion of frequencies or at least channels to avoid interference. If you're not close enough to the 22 to have direct problems with them, make sure you run an intermod calculation against the TV stations in the area and the other mics you're using.

 

[Calc]

Maybe she had high iron in here blood lol.

Metal plate, pins, and insulin pump might play a part.

Insulin Pumps run in the 900 mHz ISM band for their comms, with some also using bluetooth LE comms at 2.4 gHz.

 

[macsound]

I've had issues like this too. Different show, different wireless, different costumes but same actor. Could never get through a weekend of shows without massive dropout. Swapped all 24 packs through this one actor on a christmas show and all those wireless never had any issues on anyone else.